Rare female crocodile suffocates during mating at Dutch zoo

A very rare and endangered female crocodile has died of suffocation in a Dutch zoo during attempted mating with a "dominant" male partner, the zoo says.

"In the end she couldn't handle the dominant mating behaviour of the male gharial," Amsterdam's Artis zoo said in a statement about the false gharial (Tomistoma schlegelii) crocodile, introduced in October as part of a breeding program.

During mating, the male false gharial holds the female down with his mouth "to show his superiority", the zoo said, stressing that the female had "accepted this behaviour".

"She eventually died of suffocation," the zoo said, with multiple bites all over her body, in particular around the neck.

There are only an estimated 2,500 false gharials left in the world.

The crocodile is native to Malaysia, southern Myanmar and Indonesia's Borneo, Java and Sumatra.

For years the zoo had a male and female false gharial but they did not mate and so they introduced another female, who died.